To Win by Losing Points
by brainthief
Summary: A genuine offer accidentally turns less than innocent. It leads to the halls of Hogwarts hosting a cat and mouse game. Desperate, Harry introduces a third type of animal. Because some snakes are predictable.


**Disclaimer:** J.K. Rowling owns Harry Potter. I am not her.

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The first kiss was disappointingly short.

Who was he kidding? Harry heard bells tolling, drowning out all other sound and his closed eyes saw nothing but bright colours. His mind was blissfully blank at the same time. Had the kiss taken any longer his brain might dribble out his ears.

With his eyes still closed, Harry disengaged his lips from Hermione's and revelled in the jubilant feelings her actions had brought out in him.

His heart thundered in his chest and his skin felt highly sensitive. His lips tingled, as if electrically charged. One hand was on Hermione's waist and what had begun as a simple courteous gesture of support became anything but. He shivered when he realised only the thin fabric of her top separated his hand from the soft feminine skin of her waist.

The kiss had been unintentional.

Harry had noticed how his friend was almost hyperventilating with anxiety over the upcoming OWLs in the Common Room. True, he was a bit intimidated by the single-minded fierceness with which she attacked the material, but it wasn't exactly unexpected. He'd longed to help her and had suggested quizzing her on the material. The offer had practically reduced her to tears.

Putting his arm around her waist, he had held her and helped her calm down, making soothing sounds all the while. In gratitude she had attempted to kiss him on the cheek. He'd turned his head towards her at the same time to say something and their lips had met.

So here he was, holding a girl he'd just kissed in his arms with his brain slowly restarting.

Cautiously Harry opened his eyes.

Hermione's lips were slightly parted and a faint flush coloured her cheeks. With the softest of touches she flitted her index and middle finger across her lips as if reaffirming to herself that indeed, they were still there, and yes, that had really just happened.

She too, opened her eyes and looked straight into his. A myriad of expressions crossed her face. A blissful smile was followed by the slight widening of her eyes and the furrowing of her brow. Her frown deepened and her eyes darted to and fro as if unable to reconcile what she felt with what she saw. Everything seemed to speed up as he carefully took it all in. Joy. Wonder. Confusion. Worry. Panic.

"Harry?" she said softly, her voice confused, asking him without words to explain how the world had suddenly turned upside down and stopped making sense.

He himself wasn't all too sure, but before he could even make an attempt at reassuring her she bolted. She left her books, her notes, her quills and ran straight out the portrait hole, disappearing in the corridors.

From that point on Hermione avoided him. She didn't come back to the Common Room again that night and was gone before he got up the next morning. He didn't see her at breakfast, lunch, or dinner and she was the last one to arrive in class and the first to leave again. Two days of that behaviour left Harry feeling very frustrated.

The kiss had confused him. Hermione was his friend. Yet his feelings towards her since the kiss had gained a distinct tone of something more. He liked Cho, didn't he? Then again, their date hadn't exactly gone swimmingly and the Ravenclaw's taste in being friends with Marietta Edgecombe left a lot to be desired.

He didn't think Hermione had the exotic beauty the Asian girl flaunted, but she wasn't plain by any means. He fondly remembered her Yule Ball dress and how it had hugged her figure. And in that small moment when he'd looked at her after their kiss her lips and cheeks and hands had mesmerised him. Merlin, did he _like_ Hermione?

The thought wasn't altogether unpleasant. Actually, it warmed him and he caught himself inadvertently smiling. Merlin, he _liked_ Hermione!

It took Harry a day of seeking out his elusive friend to come to that conclusion. Up until that point her flight from him was faintly amusing if annoying. After his realisation his seeking her out had a hint of desperation to it. Still she continued to elude him.

He did run into Malfoy several times while searching and unfortunately Hogwarts' rumour mill was fast as always. The boy, emboldened by his Inquisitorial Squad badge, jeered and taunted to his heart's content, gladly making use of the juicy gossip.

All in all it left Harry feeling quite despondent. He had an evil megalomaniac after his head. All who joined him in opposing the snake met once in a blue moon in the haunted house his godfather couldn't leave; hardly a glowing endorsement. His school was taken over by the most horrid of pink toads whose presence was so vile even the castle's resident phoenix had abandoned it. And the sole ray of light for the past months – which was altogether more understandable knowing what he did now – was avoiding him as if he was contagious.

Harry didn't think Hermione was angry or otherwise upset. She just needed the courage to face him. But as things stood he wasn't able to influence her in any way. What he needed was a plan; a plan to bring out her inner Gryffindor.

For the second time in as many days he met Malfoy in the hallways, only this time they were alone.

"Ah, Scarhead!" he said, his whole face lighting up, "still searching for your pet mudblood? You know, the know-it-all smart enough to abandon ship while she still could?"

With the smallest of wrist movements Harry's wand was in his hand. Drawing it was instinct, but he stopped himself before he took aim, instead letting his arm hang loosely by his side. Malfoy's taunts always got a rise out of him, regardless of previous practise, but when the blonde insulted Hermione his response was prone to be even more violent than usual.

Taking deep breaths Harry tried to remove himself from the temptation by stalking away with a stiff gait.

He stilled when he realised what just happened and slowly the corners of his mouth turned up. There was nothing like a Slytherin to bring out dormant Gryffindor behaviour.

"Thank you, Malfoy," he said cheerfully, before almost skipping down the corridor. He suddenly felt much better, having an idea of what to do. That, and he'd shot a covert shoelace-knotting jinx while Malfoy stood gaping in astonishment at his sudden change of demeanour.

Fortunately, Potions was on the schedule for today and Harry had a plan. Like the last two days Hermione entered just before the start of class, though she stopped dead in her tracks just over the threshold. There were no empty seats, except for the one next to Harry. She visibly swallowed and timidly made her way over.

While Snape lectured she quietly took notes, not once looking up. When it was time to brew she placed her cauldron on the edge of the desk, angling her chair away from Harry as much as she could.

Harry kept trying to draw her attention, passing notes during the lecture and quietly whispering her name during the run on the ingredient cupboard but she studiously ignored him.

While he didn't manage to draw her attention, someone else did notice.

"Potter, ten points from Gryffindor for badgering a fellow student," Snape said.

Harry turned back to his own workspace, and viciously started crushing beetles using mortar and pestle. Hermione was ignoring him; there was no way she hadn't noticed him speak. That left him no choice but to enact his plan, and he needed to put aside his anger as best he could. Crushing beetles was satisfyingly violent way to accomplish that.

"Hermione!" Harry said decisively, keeping his voice low but not bothering to stop Snape from overhearing.

"That's another ten points, Potter."

"Hermione, I'm not going to stop trying to get your attention so you might as well give up now. I need to talk to you."

She stopped stirring, but didn't turn away from her cauldron.

"Another ten points." The Slytherins were sniggering and Hermione winced.

"I'm not sorry about what happened," Harry said. "I didn't intend to kiss you, but I'm very glad I turned my head at the right moment. It was brilliant."

From the corner of his eye he noticed an ingredient sailing through the air to land with a soft splash in his cauldron. It came as no surprise to him that it came from Malfoy's direction. Ever the Slytherin, he would take an opportunity when his back was turned. Harry didn't spare it more than a glance.

"While you've been avoiding me I was given a lot of time to think." He lowered his voice so that nobody but Hermione would be able to hear what came next. "I like you Hermione. I never realised, but you've always been there when I needed you. I honestly cannot fathom a time when you aren't. And truly, your face after... It was the most beautiful thing I've ever seen."

Hermione squeaked. Her cheeks were flaming, which she tried to hide using her bushy hair and by hunching inwards.

"Granger, ten points from Gryffindor for making inappropriate sounds in my classroom."

The Slytherins were openly laughing now, and the other Gryffindors were scowling. They were obviously not happy about losing so many points. Harry didn't let it deter him and kept staring at the back of Hermione's head.

Gently he reached out and put a hand on her shoulder, squeezing slightly. She was trembling. He never tried to make her turn around, but simply tried to convey some of his feelings through the human contact.

There was another splash, this time from Hermione's cauldron. There was an immediate angry hissing noise. With the entire class now paying attention to their table it was blatantly obvious that it hadn't been either of them that did something. At least half a dozen people must have seen the ingredient's flight path but that didn't seem to matter to the sour professor.

Snape muttered and with a brief flick of his wrist vanished the contents of Hermione's cauldron. "A miserable effort at brewing. That'll be another ten points for endangering an entire class and a zero for the day."

Harry felt Hermione's muscles tense under his hand. She jerked her head upwards and scowled at the professor before finally turning and scowling at Harry.

Instead of matching her anger as was his wont these days he felt relieved that she was looking at him again. "I'm not sorry." He smiled gently but didn't specify what exactly he was referring to.

"Now is not the time," she said through clenched teeth.

"After sacrificing all those points just to get you to speak to me you want me to wait? Not a chance."

She seemed to look for an escape before groaning and hiding her head in her hands. "You're a bloody prat, you know that?"

"Do you say that to all the boys you kiss?" The fact that she was talking to him again made him feel almost giddy.

His cheeky tone allowed her anger to overcome her embarrassment and her face resurfaced from where she'd hidden it. "That was my first kiss," she said almost angrily.

"Oh," he said, a little surprised. Hadn't she dated Krum for a while? "Was it so awful that you felt you needed to prevent it ever happening again by running away from me?"

"Of course not," she spat out. "It was soft and wonderful and sweet and everything I've ever dreamed of..." Her voice trailed off and she almost seemed to deflate. She hunched in on herself and when she spoke her voice was tiny. "I've just been so very confused. I never expected- that is, you should be with someone like Cho-"

Her voice got quieter and quieter and Harry snorted. He couldn't help himself. "Really, I prefer my kisses less tearful, thank you very much."

Her eyes flashed and she punched his arm. "I'm sure your next kiss will be much better."

Harry sighed. "You seem to be missing the point, Hermione. I don't want to kiss Cho."

Hermione blinked. "You- you don't?"

"Why would I choose awkward damp fumbling over kissing your wonderful soft lips? I'm hoping our next kiss is actually less good because otherwise I'm afraid my brain might explode if it lasts any longer."

"Next kiss?" Hermione sounded extremely vulnerable right now, lost in the heavy emotional waters with no clue which way to sail.

"I like you, Hermione," Harry repeated. "I'd very much like to find out if we could be something more than friends."

The pair stared into each other's eyes. Hermione seemed to be looking for some flaw or fault so Harry tried his utmost to convey his recently realised feelings through his gaze. The outside world seemed extremely unimportant right now compared to the pivotal decision this wonderful girl opposite him was faced with.

"I think I'd like that too," she said with the softest of voices, her cheeks rosy and wonder in her eyes.

Slowly, he leant forward, tilting his head slightly. He gave her every opportunity to back out, wary of pressuring her any further into bolting but as if on instinct she mimicked his movements. When their lips were less than an inch apart he closed his eyes.

At the first brush of contact the school bell rang, signalling the end of class. Abruptly the pair jumped apart and suddenly the noise from everyone around them filtered through into Harry's brain.

"Another ten points, making this a grand total of one hundred and fifty," Snape said, faintly triumphant. Harry turned to scowl at the man, and in that instant Hermione bolted. He looked back, just in time to see her hair swaying as she practically ran out the door.

"Dammit," he swore without any real heat, as he started packing his and Hermione's belongings. Hermione was about to kiss him! And she was open to becoming something more than friends!

"Never have I seen such a vulgar display," Malfoy drawled loudly somewhere behind him, obviously eager to be overheard. "Locking lips with that thing, really. I'm considering requesting a Memory Charm."

Harry gritted his teeth while he looked at the mess that was the contents of his cauldron. He hadn't paid that much attention to it to start with, but whatever Malfoy's contribution had been had definitely not improved it any. He smirked when a thought occurred to him.

Carefully he scooped something into a vial and set out to label it before placing it on Snape's desk.

"Pray tell, Mr. Potter, why you saw fit to misspell your name so egregiously that this vial now reads 'Malfoy' on the side? Are you that eager to lose your house even more points?"

"It seemed only fitting, Professor. After all, what reason could Malfoy have had to add ingredients to my cauldron other than brewing?" Not giving the man a chance to retort or make good on his threat of taking even more points he quickly made his way out of there.

Successful though his plan for the day had been, the more things changed, the more they stayed the same. Exactly like this morning, he had a girl to find.

Darn, the next Potions class wasn't for another five days. And wasn't his sadness over that the height of abnormality?

Ah well, best get to it. Squaring his shoulders, Harry strode through the corridors, looking in each and every passageway. "Hermione?"

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A/N: Written for the Interview round of the Hunger Games Competition.

Thank you for your thoughts.  
-brainthief


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